This dramatic poem is in a rhythmic form impossible to repro- duce in English. Our language does not permit of the treatment which the Pawnee tongue receives in the ritual ; there, words are cut apart, combined, or represented by a single syllable in order that the rhythmic flow may be uninterrupted. 1 Neither is a literal

1 Mr John B. Dunbar, an authority on the Pawnee language, writes: "It [the language] may rightfully challenge eminent position for its beauty as well as for its detailed flexibility. Even in its daily use careful attention is given to the euphonic element, in the employment of euphonic syllables, in the omission of syllables or let- ters, and in the substitution of letters ; while its system of verbal inflection frequently admits of the compendious expression of shades of meaning which has usually quite